This invention relates to the logging industry, and in particular to a novel logging method and vehicle arranged to accomplish, at a logging job site, the yarding of felled trees, the processing of the yarded trees into logs, and the loading or sorting of the processed logs, as a concurrent operation conducted by a single operator and vehicle. In the logging industry it is often necessary, particularly on steep terrain or on sensitive soils, etc., to move trees from low-lying areas where they have been felled to a remote location that is accessible by vehicles and heavy equipment necessary to handle, process and load the logs onto log trucks for transportation to a mill or other end destination. Typically the most cost-effective and common method of moving the logs or felled trees is by log yarders or towers disposed at the destination location with cables extending therefrom to a tree cutting location, often a significant distance away. A log-engaging and transporting carriage assembly is supported on the cable assembly for movement from one end to the other and back, the carriage being moved therebetween by a winch line connected to the carriage and paid in or out from the tower as is well known in the trade. The tower is secured against tipping under the weight and tension of the long cables and the carriage and its load by guy lines which extend from the top of the tower to secure anchor points as needed. These tower yarder arrangements have already been provided in collapsible form and mounted on dedicated vehicles to facilitate their movement and set up in the field. As for example in U.S. Pat. No. 2,720,986 (Burton); U.S. Pat. No. 2,883,068 (McIntyre), U.S. Pat. No. 2,784,850 (Batson et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,083,839 (McIntyre).
In operation, a felled tree or log is picked up by the carriage and supported thereby above the ground as the carriage is pulled by a winch line along the carriage supporting cable to its off-loading site where the tree or log is dropped and the operator of the yarder returns the carriage back to its loading site to pick up another load. Typically, after a load has been delivered to the drop off site by the yarder, a second specialized vehicle which is equipped to pick up and carry logs is operated by another skilled worker to move the delivered trees or logs from the drop off site to another location adjacent a log processing vehicle which comprises another dedicated, specialized piece of equipment and its skilled operator. Vehicle-mounted log processor heads are known in the art, as illustrated by those provided by Denharco, Hyundai and Keto to name a few.
These processor vehicles typically mount the log processor head on the end of an articulated boom, and are configured to receive a log and effectively de-limb it, size it, and cut it to desired transportable, merchantable lengths, after which the processed log is then typically picked up by yet another vehicle and either loaded onto log trucks or the like for transport or placed into sorting stacks to await loading onto a transport vehicle.
As is readily apparent, typical logging procedures in such circumstances commonly require four separate, specialized, dedicated pieces of heavy equipment and four skilled operators and multiple handlings of each log or tree and resulting in a time consuming and inefficient and very expensive process. It is therefore seen that the industry would benefit from a logging method and vehicle by which a single operator can effectively and efficiently accomplish a number of separate logging operations simultaneously and thereby eliminate the individual handlings of each tree or log by the separately operated, individual pieces of equipment that are currently required.